Stereoscopic 3D Images

Lighting a Scene in Maya

1 point lighting



2 point lighting

3 point lighting

Building a Scene in Maya

This scene was built with google sketchup because maya had a lot of issues with installation.

"Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction."

Gravity is always a variable in everyday life as well as in any movie. In our world we do not acknowledge the physics of gravity as often because we interact with it everyday. As with movies, we typically assume that if they take place in our world or even outside of it, the issue of gravity should be consistent with the laws of physics. This is not always the case though. Gravity is often misconstrued in order to add a sense of humor, increase dramatic effect, or balance a film. In the movies Ice Age (2002), The Dark Knight (2008), and Star Trek (2009) examples of gravity being misused becomes prevalent, but without such changes these movies would be faced with further challenges that would take away from the entertainment value that they are originally made for.

The movie Ice Age does a good job staying true to the physics of gravity, but breaks it from time to time to add humor and a sense of silliness to the tone of the movie. In the opening scene we are presented with a prehistoric squirrel grasping onto a nut. It is snowing out and we see the squirrel hopping through the chilly environment. From the first few seconds of the movie the audience can see that gravity is acknowledged, thusly we assume the scene is taking place on earth.

The squirrel plops around in the stormy conditions in an attempt to bury his beloved nut. As a result of his pressing attempts at burying it in the ice, he inadvertently cracks the surface he is standing on. This causes a rapid snapping of the ice as the crack runs up the side of glacier, over the top, and then back down. The squirrel stares back at the scene in horror as a ginormous chunk of ice breaks free and falls downward.

The momentum of the falling of the glacier sends the rouge piece into motion. The squirrel begins to run away from the rapidly paced glacier that is hurling icicles towards him. He manages to out run this threat only to see that another very identical glacier is moving from the opposite direction. The squirrel changes course and starts to run towards the audience to escape being crushed.

He almost makes it out unscathed but is pinched just at the end as the glaciers come into contact with each other. We can assume that the squirrel is stuck on the ground level when he gets pinched because his escape game occurred there, but this is not so. As the squirrel is ejected like an impenetrable rubber ball might be, we notice that he is popping out from the very top of the two glaciers. How he managed to go from ground level to the top is not acknowledged, but allows for him to have a more comical and lengthy fall to the ground.

Gravity is once again misused here. As the squirrel is pushed out he shoots upward for a moment and then downward. The shot changes and we watch the squirrel fall through a layer of clouds and downward towards a distant ground level below. Although we can assume the glaciers are pitted on the edge of the cliff, the scene appears to be occurring at a much more monumental height due to the clouds and ant sized trees below. The squirrel falls for about five seconds until he lands on a steep incline. If gravity had been treated correctly in this scene the squirrel would have fallen from a lower height. Since this was not the case, and he did fell from a higher height, it would have made sense for his flight to the ground to be much longer but for the sake of amusement this is not so. The scene was successful, although inaccurate when it comes to the physics of gravity.

The inaccurate use of gravity is seen again in The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne stands atop a building in the middle of a city. The building he is standing on top of looks to be well over 100 hundred stories tall. He stands atop the roof with a uniquely styled gun, which he aims at a building a few hundred feet below. This tells the audience that this is the building he plans to enter.

He stands on the edge with his bat suit on and jumps into a free fall. This fall last for about three seconds before he snaps his cape out. Batman falls for about another two seconds while his cape takes form and becomes completely functional. Once his cape has stiffened to allow for flight, he lowers his left side to make a wide right turn. At this point our hero is no longer falling or losing altitude. Batman is able to glide the cityscape freely and seems to have no trouble navigating about.

This seems highly unlikely. Batman only has a very limited amount of time to take flight before he hits the ground. A fall from 100 hundred stories would happen incredibly fast, about 5 seconds. The time it took for Batman to jump and get situated is the same amount of time it would have taken him to meet up with the pavement below.

Another piece of this scene that breaks the laws of physics is his ability to navigate and travel so smoothly. Once batman opens his cape he takes flight toward his target building below. In order to exaggerate batman’s flying capability, the makers decided to have him enter on the reverse side of the building, which allows for more flying to occur. Batman only seems to lose a little bit of elevation during his flying and seems to know exactly which window to smash through. He is able to enter by folding his wings in and using his body as a wrecking ball; this gives him the trajectory to smash through. The most precise navigational tools would need to be in effect and a means of flight more sustainable than a glorified hang glider for such a feat to be possible. This is the main scene in the movie that highlights Batman’s ability to fly so it makes sense that it was drawn out a bit. The audience wants to see batman fly and the creators want to please the audience, so in the end, for dramatic effect, the scene pays off.

The newest Star Trek movie breaks a handful of rules as well, but it makes an attempt to compensate with excuses. An example of this is the onboard gravity that the enterprise provides. The only way to have gravity in space is to be large enough of an object to have enough gravity to make a difference, or to be rotating at such a rate that it is manufactured. In the case of Star Trek this onboard artificial gravity generator allows for the the cast to act with their feet on the floor. Although this takes place in the future, the laws of physics shouldn’t change.

This onboard gravity is apparent in the climatic black hole scene (as well as in the rest of the movie). Once Romulan refuses help from the Enterprise crew, they shoot down his ship. The gravity from the very close black hole is now able to suck up the damaged ship to never be seen again. The Enterprise though is also extremely close to the black whole and the crew start to lose control of their ship. Scotty yells “the gravity well has got us!” and captain kirk replies “Go to max warp!” Since the movie is taking place in the future max warp is a bit vague of a term, except we can assume that it’s the fastest their ship can go.

This max-warp speed is not enough to clear them from danger. Out of desperation they start launching detonators into the black hole. Their hope is that the blast from the explosives will help push them from the grasp that the black hole has on the ship. The detonators explode because the intense gravity simulates an impact. The explosion is so large that it looks like multiple nuclear explosions. The energy from this explosion sweeps over the Enterprise (without damaging it much) and pushes it out and away from the black holes jurisdiction.

The science of this scene is not disregarded, but certainly manipulated. Given that the context of the film takes place in the future the creators are able to invent ineventions that bypass common laws of physics. It would also have been incredibly difficult to not have had onboard gravity on the ships because filming the scenes would be difficult for the crew to shoot and hard for the audience to watch.

Animated films and cgi benefit from breaking the laws of physics because they are able to control shots, scenes, and scenariors that can drastically improve the over all quality of a film as was the case in Ice Age, The Dark Knight, and Star Trek. All three of these movies bend the laws of physics in one way or another. In all cases I am glad they have. When animated or cgi films are made they are naturally given the option to create their own universe of rules. The fact that so much is being created and made up by the artists it would seem odd to not see to that kind of movie manipulation occurring. Breakig the laws of physics is these types of movies improves the quality of the film while at the same time pleases movie goers with cool effects, clean shots, and consistant action.

Outline for Second Paper

I. Introduction
A.Gravity can easily be misconstrued in order to balance a film, add humor, or increase dramatic effect.
B. I will look at 3 scenes, one from each movie
1.Ice Age (2002)
2.The Dark Knight
3. Star Trek (2009)

II. Body
A. Gravity in Ice Age
1. Opening scene with squirrel and nut.
2. Squirrel gets launched so high out of a glacier that is on the side of a cliff that he starts falling back down through the clouds. He lands on a steep incline and starts bouncing his way down the hillside.

B. The Dark Knight
1. About 30 minutes into the film Bruce Wayne plans to break into a skyscraper office.
2. He is a few blocks from his target window entrance. He leaps off the roof of a very high building and manages to break into the exact window by flying through the cityscape with his cape.

C. Star Trek
1. Towards the end of the movie the star fleet is trying to fly out of the suction created by the nearby black hole.
2. The physics of the scene is off because of the ship needs to be pulling much harder to escape a black hole being that close. Also, the gravity maintained in the ship is unrealistic. They might have a virtual gravity machine, but this would be impossible in reality.

III. Conclusion
A. Gravity can be misused in many different ways to exaggerate a scene for emphasis.
B. Gravity is misused in many animated/CGI films in order to add to the tone of the movie. As long as it is crafted neatly in with its context it works.

Mid-semester Survey

"This is to certify that I completed the anonymous mid-semester survey for Art/Physics 123 and am requesting the five points of extra credit.

As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html)."

Character Animation

For this assignment I decided to try a different method of creating a stop-motion animation. Instead of shooting with my digital camera as I did before, I decided to try out the SAM software. I chose to use a lamp because of the bendable neck and it seemed like the best object for being repositioned. I picked my couch as the location because I knew it would be suitable for my webcam but it would also provide a clean set for my characters. I knew that I wanted my lamp to be searching for something because lights help us find things, and since my set took place on my couch (where things go missing), I decided that a dollar bill would be a suitable object to go "missing" and perplex the lamp into frustration.

"Reverse Video Reference of Walking"

The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe- Madagascar I

The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe- Madagascar I

Madagascar is a 3-d full-length animated movie released in 2005. The movie follows several zoo animals as they find their way from the New York zoo to the shores of Madagascar. DreamWorks Animation, who created the film, wanted to see how far they could push the limits when it came to squash and stretch animation. Borrowing from the style of early Disney animators such as Chuck Jones, the DreamWorks team achieved and new level of success pertaining to this style but within the realm of 3-d. Most viewers will not notice the extreme style when it is done correctly. Other standout effects that are prominent throughout the movie deal with gravity and action and reaction. The movie takes place on earth, within the physical laws of it, but scene after scene the movie breaks properties of these physics to exaggerate and create a visually pleasing experience.

The first example where an extreme usage of squash and stretch is shown is in the New York subway. The gang of zoo animals is in search of their runway friend Marty the Zebra who is headed north to Connecticut. As the animals depart from the subway, the giraffe gets his head stuck in between the closing doors. The train goes on its way leaving half the animals body on the platform. As the car accelerates and moves off screen we see the giraffe’s legs understandably struggling for footing, yet is somehow successful in not being pulled along with the cart. By the time we see the giraffes head snap back and entire car has passed his body. Knowing that a subway car is 75 ft long and that a giraffe’s neck is on average 6ft long, the amount of stretching occurring to the neck would be about roughly 70ft in length. If this followed the laws of physics, the giraffe would be stuck in the doors and pulled along to his eventual death.

Another example of squash and stretch is seen when the animals wash up on the shores of Madagascar. Alex the Lion notices the giraffe still stuck within his shipping crate. Excited to free his friend he grabs the giraffe by his ears and begins to vigorously pull. The first tug extends the giraffe’s neck by about 9ft longer than his neck would be normally animated. Without enough strength Alex is pulled back to the opening as the neck retreats like a rubber band. On the second pull the head leaves the shot for about twice as long as the first time, with even more neck being pulled from the crate like it was a tape measurer. Knowing that giraffes are not elastic beings the viewer must accept this effect as merely a comical effect and to ignore the fact that in actuality this would never be possible.

Another good example of the usage of squash and stretch is after Alex realizes he’s going savage. He loses his balances on top of a steep hill and proceeds to tumble down it. At every point in which he comes into contact with the hillside he is sent roughly 10 ft into the air where his body twists and contorts like it is made out of rubber. Regardless of the surface being shale or grass the effect continues all the way down like he is rubber ball with no intention of slowing down. The stretches and pulls of his body seem amusing in full speed, but when slowed down frame by frame his body flails into some extreme contortionist positions.

The laws of gravity are broken time after time during Madagascar. The first example that is obvious of this is in the beginning of the movie. Alex the Lion is jumping back and forth and spinning cartwheels around Gloria the Hippos tank. Alex is trying to get her excited for their daily show at the zoo and once he has finished decides to hurl himself into the sky to meet up with another animal. Alex winds up by pulling his leading hind leg back behind himself and proceeds to take 2 steps before jumping to the top of a light post roughly 20 ft away and close to a story tall. Knowing that most full grown lions weigh about 550 lbs and that Alex only crouched down about a ft, the jump magnification formula can be used: 20ft/1ft= a jump magnification of 20. Because of Alex’s weight, he would be pushing off the ground with a force of 11 tons. The movie does not give any special powers to their animals; they cannot fly, although they can leap incredibly around in order to add a fun style to the animation.

Another example of the random absence of gravity occurs just after Marty and Alex reunite on the shore. Alex is so upset at Marty for putting him in the situation they are in he throws a fit. In the midst of it he hurls himself about 15 ft into the air and manages to stay in the air for roughly 20 frames. This jump does stay consistent with his first big leap into the sky as far how the animators manipulated real life physics, but in this case the hang time was much longer. In order to show Alex’s extreme frustration they keep him in the air longer to allow him to flail about in anger, while also contributing to the bouncy elastic theme that carries through the entire movie.

Another example of altered gravity is when the New York animals first come in contact with the Lemurs. The king lemur is dancing on a branch that appears to be about 2-stories tall and he takes large leap off of it where he begins to slowly fall downward towards the dancing lemurs below. The fall lasts a total of 45 frames for about 21/2 seconds. At this rate the lemur would be falling at 18 frames per second whereas if it were a real fall it would happen at about twice that rate.

A very fundamental aspect of physics pertains to action and reaction. When a force interacts with another force, an equal and opposite force is applied back. In the beginning portion of the movie there is an example of this rule being broken. Gloria the Hippo, wants to help her friends find Marty the Zebra. The only problem is they are contained within the walls of the zoo. Wrong, Gloria comes crashing through the brick wall like it was made of Styrofoam. The film does not show her run up, but some math will prove this as impossible. A very strong brick construction can handle 15,000 psi before breaking. I will assume Gloria is a standard female weight of 3,000 lbs and can only move at a top speed of 30 mph. Also I will assume she is 6ft tall and 4ft wide which is another standard hippo size. Since she is colliding with her entire body into the wall, she would not meet the requirements to break through it. 3,000 lbs x 30 mph= and impact force of 45,000. Since Gloria came to a stop after moving 2 ft past the wall we use that number to find her force, 45,000/. 002, which is 22.5 tons. Gloria would need to be double her size and have bones of steel for this to ever be physically possible.

Another example of action and reaction being portrayed incorrectly is when Gloria the Hippo’s crate washes up on the shore. Alex puts his head up to crate to see if it is really she inside of it. All of a sudden the siding of the crate explodes outwards sending Alex flying upwards into the sky. Alex reaches the height of at least a 1-story building before he comes crashing down onto the giraffe. By the size of the crate that Gloria is in suggests there might have only been a foot at most of space. Without any momentum other than the movement of her feet would have made such an exit impossible, not to mention sending a 550-pound animal a story into the sky. The amount of force applied to the crate door would have to be exponentially more.

Once the animals realize they are in the wild, and not a really realistic zoo, Alex and the giraffe freak out and start scrambling about. The giraffe proceeds to thrust his head downwards into the sand to cover his eyes out of fear. Considering his neck appears to be about 9 or 10ft long and that he goes about 2ft deep into the sand over the course of 3 frames would suggest that his downward velocity would be (12 ft/ 3fps= 4ft ps )or 156 mph, a speed unattainable for such an animal.

Another example of the action reaction effect being exaggerated is when Alex starts running in the open field with Marty. At first Alex seems to be running at about 20 mph and slowly increases his rate to about 30mph. within a few frames Alex is blurred trail of super speed. In another 2 frames he manages to come to a complete stop and turn around to block Marty’s path. At this point it appears that Marty’s speed has increased from 20mph to 40mph and careens out of control trying to avoid Alex. They end up colliding and tumbling at a speed of 10mph but for the next 140 frames. Considering they are not tumbling very fast the effect was heavily drawn out to exaggerate the impact of the two colliding animals.

In every scene of this movie some aspect of the earth’s physics is being broken. As viewers we understand that none of these animals can fly, shape shift, or have superpowers of any kind. The movie allows these pieces of physics to slip by for the shear sake of amusement. Since the movie breaks their universes rules so consistently and often as viewers we begin expect such outlandish movement. If the movie did not consistently break the rules they chose to break we might be left a bit confused. It uses the worlds physics as a general guide line, and then intentionally ignores parts of it to create a more animated fun world that plays into the over style and them of the movie.

Outline Paper 1

I. Introduction

A. Madagascar (2005)
B. Thesis- The movie Madagascar takes place on our earth, but it breaks several laws of physics that pertain to it.

II. Body

A. Action/ Reaction exaggerations
1. Hippo (Gloria) manages to break through a brick wall in order to escape the New York zoo.
2. When Gloria breaks free from her traveling crate, she is able to kick out a wood siding which hits Alex the lion flying back about 20 ft back and into the air.
3. Once the Giraffe realizes they are in fact in the wild, and not another zoo, he slams his face down into the sand and propels downward up to his upper neck
4. When Alex chases Marty (zebra) in the wild he comes at him at a very high speed. The collision causes them to tumble entangled for about 30ft.

B. Squash and Stretch
1. The Giraffe gets his head stuck in the subway cart while the rest of him is on the platform. The train takes off stretching his neck until it snaps back to him.
2. Alex pulls on the giraffes head and neck in order to pull him out of his crate. The neck stretches out like until it flies back like elastic.
3. Once Alex starts to go savage he has trouble adjusting to his claws and the wild. He falls down a cliff bouncing off rocks and beds of flowers in a wild tumble.

C. Gravity
1. In the start of the movie the animals get excited about their ‘show time’ starting. Alex is so excited he flips and flies like gravity does not exist. He also flings around a street pole and hurls himself further into the sky.
2. Alex leaps about 15 ft. in the air from a stand still when he tries to fight Marty once they have realized they are not at the zoo anymore.
3. The King Lemur jumps off a tall branch during their entrance to the movie. He falls over a few stories high but very slowly. The shot makes it seems as if the king can almost glide as he returns the ground, exaggerating the creatures lightness.
4. Alex picks up all 3 animals (zebra, giraffe, hippo) while standing on his hind legs. The gravity would need to be much less for this to be possible.

III. Conclusion

A. Laws of physics are consistently broken during the film
B. The rule breaking creates a very enjoyable and comedic style that although does not look real, works positively in the context of the movie.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

For this assignment I shot the animation of a falling coffee mug. I the set the scene up over my bed in order to have a large flat surface with and even background. I then took some change to create the idea that the mug was on a platform. I lined pennies along the side to help keep my shots similarly composed. The pennies also helped create the illusion the mug was falling. I took reference footage of myself tipping over a coffee mug before I started the scene. I forwarded my footage every 2 frames and tried to copy the positioning in the scene. Once I got to the end of the space I let the mug crash through floor line and disappear out of the frame.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Tracker video analysis of falling

This is the tracking of the golf ball, from the 4th take of the reference footage, being dropped from roughly 4ft

reference footage

Mini Portfolio

Hello World

First post for my art123 physics of animation.